I became a legion lich

239 Gold mines

In the extreme north of the desert, in the army of black skeletons commanded by Astrus, Ruy and the basilisk.

The undead army had marched non-stop and reached the end of the savannas, killing everything they found in their path and even diverting at times when they found nests of monsters that could be killed quickly.

Despite not having much magical support, each of the generals had 10,000 skeletons and there were three of them here. Furthermore, unlike the time when they entered the desert and their army was composed mainly of humans, now they were just monsters and demi-humans accustomed to the environment.

Their numbers had grown somewhat since they left, but the generals did not let their guard down and continued to hunt diligently to reduce the loss of skeletons caused by the expansion of the mind web, while at the same time looking for a suitable place to settle.

They had almost reached the mountains when they found a more or less suitable spot. It was entirely by chance, but as they were marching, the earth suddenly began to sink and give way, burying a few hundred skeletons of the vanguard.

The generals feared that an elemental storm was starting and hastily ordered them to retreat, but it ended as quickly as it started. It turned out that it wasn’t an elemental storm that caused the ground to cave in, but an underground cavern just below them.

The ceiling was thin and did not support the weight of the skeletons above them. After confirming that the skeletons that fell to the cave were safe, the generals began to investigate the cave, discovering that there were raw ores on the cave floor.

The ores they found were mostly gold nuggets, with a few iron ores mixed in. Feeling that they were literally on top of a gold mine, the generals ordered the dwarves to start digging, discovering that they were right.

Astrus immediately informed Athos of the good news, receiving orders to begin building a fort around the mine and begin a mining operation as soon as possible.

.....

“You heard the orders guys, let’s get to work. Kill everything within a 10 kilometer radius and secure a safe perimeter for construction. We don’t have magic metals to create large-scale defensive spells, so traps like trenches will be essential, in addition to a wall obviously.” Astrus started giving orders as soon as he received orders from Athos and Ruy just nodded in agreement.

“Hey, why should I take orders from you? I am a superior being and I refuse to obey someone like you!” The basilisk, on the other hand, didn’t like the idea of Astrus taking over. He made complaints like this whenever one of the generals tried to issue an order, much to the annoyance of Astrus and Ruy who were unable to understand his words but felt the basilisk’s scorn thanks to the mental link connecting them.

The basilisk had behaved in front of Athos and obeyed without any problems until the moment of departure, but as soon as they separated from Athos, it became arrogant and began to despise the two generals as inferiors.

“Be silent, worm. We are obeying your majesty’s orders, so do not interfere. Or may I consider your resistance as disloyalty to our master?” Astrus snapped back, shushing the giant serpent. The basilisk didn’t understand his words either, but the black chains in his soul did and recognized the basilisk’s disobedience, sealing his movements.

After days of marching together and arguing, Astrus and Ruy had figured out how to deal with the irritating basilisk. The giant snake was smart by monster standards, but it was still stupid by human standards and constantly said things that could be misunderstood, so they just needed to point it out to shut up the basilisk.

“Want to take advantage of us starting to settle down and scout the mountains for dwarves? The nearest mountain is only a few hours away, so it might be a good idea to grab an elite unit and try to raid them.” Ruy suggested looking at the mountains to the north.

“Let’s leave it for later. Forming an elite team would compromise our current defenses and we don’t know when we might be attacked. We’ve risen so high that we’re dangerously close to the Mirkor realm. If the realm has already started rebuilding the destroyed fortress, they might want to investigate us, and we’re going to be in trouble if they find us.” Astrus spoke worriedly, not knowing that the kingdom of Mirkor already had their hands full with the imminent invasion and had not even started reconstruction projects.

“Makes sense. Let’s save that for another day then.” Ruy nodded in agreement, before heading out to hunt and secure the security perimeter. As a former adventurer, he had no idea what he was supposed to do to build a base and defend it, so he concentrated on what he did best, hunting.

**************

“Looks like the skeletons that marched north found a gold mine. I don’t know how useful gold will be in the future, but having a gold mine is never a bad thing.” Athos muttered after receiving Astrus’ report.

“Gold is an important metal, master. Its natural form is malleable, but if they absorb enough mana from nature or we dwarves use our earth son ability enough on gold, they can evolve into adamant, an alloy of magical metals.” Dwarvin who was next to him replied, surprising Athos.

“Wait, adamant is magic gold? How can such a malleable metal become one of the strongest metals physically?” Athos asked doubtfully, pointing to his own armor in doubt.

“Yes. All magic metal alloys are normal metals that exist in nature and have been refined by the world’s energy. I will teach you about the different types of magic metals when we start our runesmith classes.” Dwarvin explained patiently as he took notes on the projects in front of him.

They were currently in a black stone house built by the dwarves, where the smartest dwarves created the blueprints for the fortress. Currently, the most they were doing was building the bases and fortifying the ground, which was made extremely fragile by Treevor.

They have hardened and compressed the earth until it is as hard as stone thanks to earth magic and the dwarves’ earthborn skill. The dwarves had prepared the ground only 5 kilometers long for now, but the total size of the fortress would be almost 20 kilometers according to the dwarves’ blueprints.

They had more than a few thousand dwarves for manpower, but most had spent all their mana corrupting newly obtained weapons and were out of mana at the time.

Athos had been called in to approve the building plans, and he took the opportunity to talk with Dwarvin about the problem of a shortage of magical metals. The dwarf had finally taken a break from the forge because of his lack of mana but refused to stop working and went over to review the construction blueprints.

But it turned out that there was a very simple solution to the problem. It would be enough for dwarves to use earth son to infuse mana into common metals before starting the runesmith, or even common rocks and stones.

It was the technique that the dwarves used in the mountains to reduce the cost of materials, only needing to use metals for more complex enchantments, such as the hammer that controlled the enchantments in the first mountain they invaded.

Their enchantments wouldn’t be as powerful as using magical metals, but it was still the best option they had.

The skeletons no longer had anything preventing their departure, but they decided that they would only leave after the construction of the fortress was complete, or at least the initial defenses were in place.

“I’m going to get in the way if I stay here, so I’m leaving now. Let me know when you have some free time so we can start our lessons, Dwarvin.” After approving all the projects for building the base and having all his questions answered, Athos said goodbye to the dwarf and left the small improvised house, looking at the skeletons working outside.

Even without the dwarves to help, the skeletons themselves could still work manually, and mages with an earth affinity helped a lot. Furthermore, the dwarfs themselves were recovering quickly and in a few minutes they would be back at work, thanks to a startling discovery.

The black crystal horns of the crystal horn rhinos were similar to magic stones and the skeletons could use darkness to absorb corrupted world energy from the crystals.

The crystals wouldn’t be consumed either and would just lose the energy they stored and slowly recharge their energies. Dwarf skeletons were using the rhinos as backup batteries and absorbing whatever energy they could.

Athos didn’t stand still for long watching the skeletons work and went looking for an empty area where he could practice magic. There wasn’t much he could do to help with the construction and even if there was, practicing magic was more fun and he couldn’t wait to get started.

He had more than a few ideas for spells he intended to create, but it would take time and effort to create them. Athos walked until he almost reached the edge of the camp, finding a battle in progress.